Former CFTC Chair Gary Gensler expected to be nominated as SEC Chair
Reuters has reported that former CFTC Chair Gary Gensler will be President-elect Biden’s choice for SEC Chair. According to the article, in light of his “reputation as a hard-nosed operator willing to stand up to powerful Wall Street interests”—notwithstanding his former life as an investment banker—the appointment is “likely to prompt concern” among some that he will promote “tougher regulation.” The NY Post attributed his nomination to the most recent Democratic wins in the Senate, which allowed selection of “the more progressive candidate. Only two weeks ago, people close to the Biden transition team had penciled in centrist Robert Jackson Jr….as the SEC frontrunner because he was seen as more likely to win confirmation by a GOP-controlled Senate.” Jackson is a former Democratic SEC Commissioner appointed in 2017. Gensler is an MIT professor and has been leading the Biden transition planning for financial industry oversight.
Will the new Congress use the Congressional Review Act to nullify recent rulemakings?
You might remember that the first piece of legislation signed into law by the then-new (now outgoing) administration in 2017 was, according to the Washington Post, a bill that relied on the Congressional Review Act to dispense with the resource extraction payment disclosure rules. (See this PubCo post.) Under the CRA, any rules that were recently finalized by the executive branch and sent to Congress could be jettisoned by a simple majority vote in Congress and a Presidential signature. According to the Congressional Research Service, before the current outgoing administration took up the cudgel in 2017, “[o]f the approximately 72,000 final rules that [had] been submitted to Congress since the [CRA] was enacted in 1996, the CRA [had] been used to disapprove one rule: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s November 2000 final rule on ergonomics, which was overturned using the CRA in March 2001.” That’s because the stars are rarely in proper alignment: generally, the CRS indicated, for successful use, there will have been a turnover in party control of the White House and both houses of Congress will be majority–controlled by the same party as the President. That was the case in 2017, and, as of January 9, 2020, the CRA had been used to overturn a total of 17 rules, according to the CRS. Well, the stars are in proper alignment now. To observe that the new Congress and new administration have a lot on their plates is quite an understatement. Will they use the CRA to scrap any of the SEC’s “midnight regulations”?
SEC’s investor advocate bemoans 2020 rulemaking agenda and has some ideas for 2021
Let’s just say that the SEC’s Investor Advocate, Rick Fleming, was none too pleased with the work of the SEC this year. Although, in his Annual Report on Activities, he complimented the SEC for its prompt and flexible response to COVID-19, that’s about where the accolades stopped. For the most part, Fleming found the SEC’s rulemaking agenda “disappointing.” While cloaked in language about modernization and streamlining, he lamented, the rulemakings that were adopted were too deregulatory in nature, with the effect of diminishing investor protections. But issues that definitely called for modernization—such as the antiquated proxy plumbing system—despite all good intentions, were not addressed, nor did the SEC establish a “coherent framework” for ESG disclosure. And the SEC “also selectively abandoned its deregulatory posture by erecting higher barriers for shareholders’ exercise of independent oversight over the management of public companies” through the use of shareholder proposals and by imposing regulation on proxy advisory firms. That regulation could allow management to interfere in the advice investors pay to receive from proxy advisory firms and was widely opposed by investors. What’s your bet that he’ll be a lot happier next year?
What issues should be on the 2021 audit committee agenda?
In this new Bulletin, consultant Protiviti identifies key issues for the 2021 audit committee agenda and—no surprise—at least half reflect the impact of COVID-19. The agenda includes four topics related to enterprise, process and technology risks and four related to financial reporting, with a reminder regarding ESG. Also available is an audit committee self-assessment questionnaire. The topics suggested for the audit committee agenda are summarized below.
NYSE proposes to amend shareholder approval requirements
The NYSE is proposing to relax the requirements for shareholder approval of related-party equity issuances and bring them closer into alignment with the comparable Nasdaq rules. The proposal, which would amend Sections 312.03, 312.04 and 314.00 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, would provide more flexibility to raise capital and includes modifications that are largely identical to the temporary waiver in effect during the COVID-19 crisis. (See this PubCo post and this PubCo post.) In observing the impact of that temporary waiver (which has now been extended through March 31, 2021), the NYSE has seen “that a significant number of companies have benefited from the flexibility provided by the waiver and has not observed any significant problems associated with companies’ completion of transactions permitted by the waiver.”
Corp Fin issues disclosure guidance on SPACs
Happy new year! To complete the year- and term-end surge, just before Christmas, the Corp Fin staff issued CF Disclosure Guidance: Topic No. 11 regarding disclosure considerations for special purpose acquisition companies in connection with their IPOs and subsequent business combinations, often referred to as de-SPAC transactions. As usual, the staff provides some great questions to consider when crafting disclosure.
Last day for Jay
Today is SEC Chair Jay Clayton’s last day at the office, after almost four years as Chair.
SEC approves NYSE proposal for direct listings (updated)
[This post has been updated to reflect the joint statement of Commissioners Allison Lee and Caroline Crenshaw, posted today.]
On August 26, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets took action, pursuant to delegated authority, to approve a proposed NYSE rule change that would allow companies going public to raise capital through a primary direct listing. (See this PubCo post.) Five days later, that rule change hit a “snag,” as the WSJ put it—the SEC notified the NYSE that the approval order had been stayed because the SEC had received a notice of intention to petition for review of the approval order. The petition, submitted by the Council of Institutional Investors, was granted in September. Yesterday, after cancelling the open meeting scheduled to address the NYSE rule, the SEC approved, by a vote of three to two, the NYSE’s proposed rule change, as amended. According to the NYSE President, the approval “is a game changer for our capital markets, leveling the playing field for everyday investors and providing companies with another path to go public.” Will primary direct listings now replace SPACs as the favored alternative offering format? Some have even suggested that the approval “will ‘unquestionably’ usher in the end of traditional initial public offerings.” That remains to be seen.
Happy holidays! Happy new year!
SEC proposes changes to Rule 144
Surprise! Yesterday, the SEC announced that it had voted, without an open meeting, to propose amendments to Rule 144 to revise the method for determining the holding period—essentially eliminating tacking—for securities “acquired upon the conversion or exchange of certain ‘market-adjustable securities.’ The proposed amendment is intended to reduce the risk of unregistered distributions in connection with sales of those securities.” It is worth emphasizing that the proposed amendment “would not affect the use of Rule 144 for most convertible or variable-rate securities transactions.” Essentially, the amendment is intended to apply to “floating priced” or “floating rate” convertibles, often referred to as “death-spiral” converts, issued by companies that do not have securities listed, or approved for listing, on a national securities exchange. The proposed amendments would also:
~mandate the electronic filing of all Form 144 notices related to the resale of securities of Exchange Act reporting companies;
~eliminate the Form 144 filing requirement for non-reporting companies;
~change the filing deadline for Form 144 to coincide with the filing deadline for Form 4;
~amend Forms 4 and 5 to add a check box to permit filers to indicate that a sale or purchase reported on the form was made pursuant to a transaction that satisfied Rule 10b5-1(c); and
~make minor changes to Form 144, including eliminating certain personally identifiable information.
The SEC also indicated that it intends to create an “online fillable” document for entering the information required by Form 144 and, where applicable, Form 4. According to SEC Chair Jay Clayton, the “proposed amendments modernize, clarify and strengthen Rule 144, including to ensure that holders of market-adjustable securities are assuming the economic risks of their investment rather than acting as a conduit for an unregistered sale of securities to the public on behalf of an issuer….In addition, the proposed shift to electronic filing of Form 144 provides a necessary update to reflect today’s markets, particularly given the benefits—and the feasibility—of electronic filing our experience over the past nine months has demonstrated.”
Happy holidays! Happy new year!
SEC approves NYSE proposal for direct listings
On August 26, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets took action, pursuant to delegated authority, to approve a proposed NYSE rule change that would allow companies going public to raise capital through a primary direct listing. (See this PubCo post.) Five days later, that rule change hit a “snag,” as the WSJ put it—the SEC notified the NYSE that the approval order had been stayed because the SEC had received a notice of intention to petition for review of the approval order. The petition, submitted by the Council of Institutional Investors, was granted in September. Yesterday, after cancelling the open meeting scheduled to address the NYSE rule, the SEC approved the NYSE’s proposed rule change, as amended. According to the NYSE President, the approval “is a game changer for our capital markets, leveling the playing field for everyday investors and providing companies with another path to go public.” Will primary direct listings now replace SPACs as the favored alternative offering format? Some have even suggested that the approval “will ‘unquestionably’ usher in the end of traditional initial public offerings.” That remains to be seen.
Happy holidays! Happy new year!
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